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Duke  University  Libraries 


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CHARGES«1ND  SPECIFICATIONS 


PREFERRED  AUGUST  23,  1862, 


BY  BRIGADIER  GENERAL  ALBERT  TIKE, 


AGAINST 


MAJOR  GEN.  THUS.  C  HINDMAN 


RICHMOND,  VA.: 

8MITH,     BAILEY     4    CO.,     PRINTERS 

1863. 


135~  Brigadier  G#:i.  Albert   Pike,   commanding  de- 
partmoat  Indian  te  groat  Ari.nns  lawyer 

his  wr  •  :..rii»l  law,  fr.im  whic'i  we  ex- 

it no  j-uch  thir.r  »»  Martial  Law,  in  the  sense  in  ! 

hi 
our 


1  tnT-?  1*  DO  >\i::i  inn  5  ai  .'iiruii  bin,  in  iuo  icues  r 

hicu  i  i   -  ia  irtial  Law  ii 

l«  We  ..  s  :  aud  ore:  ^ 


.  *hment  for  offences,  v. ' 

< \  urts  i)  the  pn  <   . 
bait,  *r  hat  Lung  or  shot  uieo  tipen 
■■  by  a  seme 
ariial,  ha?  been  guilty  of  lhat 

i  —  the  sub»  Coualitutio* 

his  country.     And  every  editor,  who.  standing  like  ■ 

1°*"  I  aentinpl   on  the   pat..' 

vasiea  of  their  rights,  bacnmes  ' 
tbe  c'.^Kk  ;i3ta 

for,  what  ^T  i!ow  :ai  law,  is  what  has  Weeu 

m-         .    ui.-niy   ages  a:    i  r  and   adroc* 

.  and  the  par- 
asite i 
The  Vice  President  of  the  Confederate  Stales  has  late- 
luaced  as  bi  -ren  "Ciugres*  can- 

.  in  its  propir  sense,  is 
t  all  Kws  ;''  th  ;t  Coofi  i 
s  constitute      I 
nal  gu  irantees  being  "above  and  be-  ]  ed  llf 
•nd  much  >- 
rond  any  officer  uf  the  g 

puniah  any  aetaaan   sess 
nff.-nce    i  law,  unless  t Lie  lommif 

■  lias  first  be  ogress, 

ion  of  i  ,  -with  the 
mods  i  'i  v  set  forth, 

'i  *  with  hie.  ]  in  this 

's  hare 
.  alter  or  modify  laws,  either  military 
!are  what  shall ! 
er  military  or  civi! ;  h  any  tribu  i 

declare." 

the   motive,  an!  however 
.  all  officers,  of  anv  grade, 
uch  usurpations,  are  criminals. 
I  thrown 

tian  rock  as  enemies  of  the  Re- 
st despotism, 
all  ages  begun  under  tho  p  re- 
ana1  1  audible  motives. 

A  Pi  .  rof  the  camp  nf  an  army, 

conduct  of 

of  the  the  I 

is,  to  Fpoik  of  a  Gencr 
"oommai     A 

command  t  a  Pi 
1  d  be  tbo  civil  and  military  Got- 
State. 

<-y  powers. 

re  no  other.     When  they  appoint  Provost  Mar- 

imirml  magistrates^  they  usurp 

tlopo.»  ties,  annihilate  its  sorer- 

ilio  tunctione   of  the  Legislators  and 

The  powers  ofaProTost  Marshal  cannot  extend  bevoad 
sfers  and  retainers.    It  is  especially 
-dish  *   tat  to    overn  in  sales 

lividnali,  to  direct  Ibal 
tinvney  shall  be  recei/ed  ia  payment  for  i?,oodn  ! 
.  sold  by  prirate  citizen  to  private  citizee,  or 
enmpel    men  to  recuive  such  cstrrency  in  payment  ol 
.,•  dcbt«.    It  is  a  .t  in  the  powei 
■  l.-i  autlioii:  '     i,  any  of  these  thii 

of  Prevost  Marshals,  who  are  to  ex- 
the  army,  aro 
-  are  the  erecting  of  offie- 
;.  unknown   to  lb*     "  i  and   the  laws,  and  the! 

them  will  bo  utterly  worthless,  whei 
eade  ore  the  Courts. 

itments  can,  as  the   ','[ 
ice  President  bai  i  ightfullp  exercise  ho  saoi 

except  in  respect  to  the  army,  its  retainers  ■ « 
than  ii  the  apdjintmeut  had  been  made  by  »t 
.-«et  walker. 


. 


i^e1 

in 

sacj 
conl 
datl 

the 


fro  i 
day) 

co  a) 
la] 

eryj 

lro;] 
ins. 

all 

(5C 
A 

del 


ol 


LETTER 


TO  THE 


ADJUTANT  AND  INSPECTOR  GENERAL, 

ACCOMPANYING  CHARGES  AGAINST  MAJOR 
GENERAL  THOS.  C.  HINDMAN. 


Little  Ro^k,  Arkansas,  ) 
August  25,  lS6%t    J 

General  S.  Cooper,  C.  S.  A., 

Adjutant  Gentral,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir  :  I  enclose  herewith  charges  and  specifications  against  Major 
General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  of  the  Provisional  army  of  the  Confed- 
erate States. 

I  was  my  intention  merely  to  duplicate  charges  and  specifications, 
placed  by  me  on  the  twentienth  of  the  present  month,  in  the  hands  of 
the  postmaster  at  Washington,  Arkansas,  o  be  forwarded  by  mail,  or 
by  the  carrier  who  goes,  at  irregular  intervals,  to  Chattanooga ;  in 
order  to  make  it  certain  they  should  reach  Richmond,  as  I  feared  they 
would  not  do  in  either  of  those  modes. 

I  have,  however,  here  added  a  sixth  and  seventh  charge,  and  in  some 
respects  modified  or  varied  the  language  of  the  specifications  under 
the  others,  and  therefore  request  that  these  may  be  substituted  for 
those. 

In  the  letter  accompanying  those,  I  said  as  follows: 

'*  As  I  have  had  cause  to  complain  of  General  Hindman,  in  his  mili- 
tary capacity,  as  my  superior  officer,  and  as  he  thinks  he  has  cause 
for  complaining  of  disobedience  of  his  orders  on  my  part.  I  would 
rather  this  task  of  arraigning  him  for  the  most  extraordinary  assump- 
tions of  power,  outrages  upon  private  rights,  and  violations  of  the 
constitution,  should  have  devolved  upon  some  one  other  than  myself, 
and  that  it  should  have  been  performed  by  some  one  of  those  whoso 
peculiar  duty  i.  is  to  guard  the  rights  and  honor  of  the  State  of  Ar- 
kansas and  her  people. 


"  But  I  do  solemnly  aver,  that  if  I  had  had  no  controversy  whatever 
with  Genera]  Ilindinan,  I  should  equally  have  felt  it  a  duty  I  owed 
the  Stale  and  the  people  of  the  State,  to  preler  these  charges,  in  order 
that  the  President  might,  by  bringing  this  great  offender  to  trial,  pub- 
licly protest  against  being  held  responsible  for  these  enormous  acts  of 
usurpation  and  tyranny,  which,  if  he  overlooks  them,  or  permits  them 
to  pass  uncondemned,  the  public  opinion  of  the  country  and  the  world 
will  hold  him  to  have  adopted  and  made  his  own. 

'•  For  near  two  months  and  a  half,  the  State  government  of  Arkansas 
has  been  deposed,  and  the  constitution  of  the  State  stricken  with  par- 
alysis.  It  has  been  no  State;  because  it  has  been  without  a  constitu- 
tion, without  law,  without  courts  in  action;  the  will  of  the  military 
commander  its  only  law. 

"  An  officer  who  exacts  obedience,  implicit  and  unhesitating,  from 
his  inferiors,  must,  first  of  all,  himself  as  implicitly  obey  the 
law  and'the  constitution.  \\  hen  he  sets  them  nought,  he  destroys  the 
source  and  fountain  of  his  own  power,  and  relieves  his  inferiors  of  the 
duty  of  obedience  to  himself.  He  cannot  demand  that  any  one  should 
aid  him  in  strangling  liberty,  invading  the  sanctuaries  of  private 
right,  setting  his  Provost  Marshals  upon  the  benches  of  justice,  and 
putting  his  feet  upon  the  neck  of  the  Constitution.  . 

"  1  protest  against  the  doctrine  lately  announced  by  Major  General 
Pari  \fr»  Dorn  to  the  people  of  Mississippi,  that  ''martial  law  has 
been  well  defined  to  be  the  will  of  the  military  commander"  That 
is  the  exact  definition  of  despotism,  pure  and  simple.  It  defines  the 
government  of  Nero,  Peter  the  Great,  and  Amurath,  Sultan  of  the 
Janissaries.  If  it  were  true,  then  it  might  be  made  high  treason  to 
question  the  immaculate  conception  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  or  the  mili- 
tary qualifications  of  a  Major  General. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  am  sure  the  President  will  hasten  to  declare, 
that  no  military  power  can  annul  any  part  of  the  Constitution  ;  that 
martial  law  can  only  be  declared,  when  allowed  by  the  Constitution  and 
authorized  by  Congress;  that  when  declared,  it  does  not  suspend  the 
Constitution  or  the  laws,  or  authorize  the  General  to  make  laws,  but 
only  extends  a  known  code  of  laws  into  wid.r  limits  and  beyond  the 
immediate  precincts  of  the  army,  and  substitutes,  as  to  certain  offences, 
the  military  courts,  provided  for  by  law,  in  place  of  the  civil  tribunals  ; 
that  it  does  not  in  any  wise  warrant  the  conferring  of  unlimited  and 
triple-headed  power  upon  Provost  Marshals,  any  violation  of  the  sacred 
obligation  of  contracts,  or  an  agrarian  distribution  of  private  pro- 
perty among  the  necessitous,  and  the  sweeping  confiscation  of  the 
whole  cotton  crop  of  a  State." 

These  usurpations  and  outrages  were  not  necessary ;  and  if  they 
were,  "  necessity  has  in  all  ages  been  the  plea  of  tyrants."  Most  of 
them,  and  the  most  despotic  and  indefensible  among  ihem,  have  not 
been  in  any  wise  the  exercise  of  military  power,  but  such  interferences 
with  civil  rights  anl  remedies,  as  flow  only  from  absolute  regal  power, 
unrestrained  by  law  and  justice  alike. 

The  utter  contempt  and  disregard  shown  by  General  Hindman  for 
the  rights  of  his  subordinates,  are  not  less  striking  and  singular  than 


his  disregard  of  law  and  Constitutions.  Every  where,  even  in  the  line, 
officers  of  his  creation,  without  right  or  rank,  are  set  over  those  hold- 
ing the  commission  of  the  President ;  the  men  of  companies  and  regi- 
ments have  been  deprived  of  the  right  of  electing  their  own  officers; 
and  rank  and  titles  have  been  dispensed  by  him  as  liberally  :nd  in  as 
lordly  a  style1  as  patents  of  nobility  are  by  a  monarch. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

ALBERT  PIKE, 
Brigadier  General  P.  A.,  C.  S.  A.,  and  citizen  of  Arkansas. 


■ 


CHANGES    PPEFEPJM-I) 


AGAINST 


MAJOR  GENERAL  TIJOS!  0.  JUNDMAN, 

PROVISIONAL  ARMY  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE 
STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


CHARGE    FIRST. 


Unlawful,  unconstitutional,  unmilitary  and  unwarrantable  assump- 
tions and  exercise  of  dangerous  powers,  and  usurpations  <  f  the  ple- 
nary prerogat  ves  of  royalty,  within  a  sovereign  State  of  the  Coo* 
federate  States  of  America,  and  over  the  free  citizens  of  that  State, 
to  the  utter  subversion,  for  the  time  being,  of  the  laws  and  the  con- 
stitution of  that  State,  and  the  establishment,  during  more  than  two 
months  of  an  absolute  despotism  within  it 


SPECIFICATIONS    OF    THE    FIRST    CHARGE. 

First.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindmari.,  being 
plac.d.  by  the  order  of  General  Beauregard,  of  the  army  of  the  <<>  1 1  - 
fed 'rate  States,  in  command  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  district,  of 
which,  by  the, same  oner,  the  State  of  Arkansas  was  made  a  part; 
and  having  assumed  the  command  of  the  said  district,  and  established 
his  headquarters  at  Little  Rock,  in  the  Sure  of  Arkansas  he,  the 
said  Mi.jor  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  did,  on  the  ninih  day  of 
June,  A.  D.  Ittt;2,  by  his  special  orders.  No.  13.  of  that  day  and 
date,  then  issued  and  promulgated  fiom  his  said  headquarters  ille- 
gally and  in  subversion  of  constitutional  government,  declare  martial 
law  throughout  the  county  of  Pulaski,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas;  and 
on  the  thirtieth  flay  of  June,  A.  D  ,  I.SU2,  by  his  general  orders,  No. 
IS,  of  that  date,  issue'  and  promulgated  from  the  same  headquarters, 
he,  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C  llindman.  did,  illegally  and  in 
subversion  of  constitutional  government,  and  in  defiance  of  the  guar- 
antees of  rights  to  the  citizens  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate 
States,  extend  his  own  arbitrary  will  and  despotic  tyranny,  termed  by 
him  in  the  special  orders  aforesaid,  ''martial  law,"  and  in  the  same 
general  orders,  "the  direct  protection  of  the  military  authority,"  over 
the  people  of  the  whole  of  the  said  district;  which  orders  were  there- 


■upon  carried  into  effect,  and  his  will  became  the  law,  and  all  vestiges  of 
the  constitutional  government  of  the  State  disappeared,  and  the  privi- 
lege of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  everywhere  suspended  ;  and  cer- 
tain persons  styled  by  him  Provost  Marshals  were  authorized  to  as- 
sume, and  were  invested  with  dangerous  and  unconstitutional  powers, 
legislative,  judicial  and  executive,  in  derogation  of  the  rights  of  the 
citizens,  and  in  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the  Confederate  States 
and  of  that  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  :  all  of  which  was  done  and 
acted  and  ordered  by  liim  without  authority  from  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States.  This  it  Little  Rock,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas, 
on  the  ninth  and  thirtieth  days  of  June,  A.  D.,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-two. 

Second.  That  by  the  said  special  orders  No.  13,  issued  and  pro- 
mulgated on  the  ninth  day  of  June  aforesaid,  he,  the  said  Major 
General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  did  constitute  and-  appoint  one  Benja- 
min F.  Danley  to  be  commander  of  the  post  of  Little  Iloek  aforesaid, 
and  Provost  Marshal  of  the  county  of  Pulaski  in  the  State  of  Ar- 
kansas ;  and  did  thereby  charge  and  authorize  that  person,  among 
other  things,  to  suppress  vice,  disorder  and  immorality  within  that 
county,  have  full  control  of  police  regulations  throughout  it,  and  ilpre- 
scibt:  and  inflict  penalties"  for  all  offences  coming  within  his  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  he  also  thereby  authorized  the  said  person  to  '-establish 
such  regulations  in  regard  to  trade  and  traffic"  and  the  punishment 
for  violations  of  orders  in  respe*ot  thereof,  as  he  might  deem  proper. 
And  on  the  tenth  day  of  June  aforesaid,  by  his  general  orders  No. 
13  of  that  date,  issued  and  promulgated  from  the  same  headquarters, 
the  same  person  was,  by  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  0.  Hind- 
man,  assigned  to  duty  as  Chief  Provost  Marshal  of  the  whole  of  the 
said  district,  and  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C  ITindman  did 
thereby  authorize  and  empower  his  said. Chief  Provost  Marsha!  "and 
those  under  him,"  "under  such  regulations  as  he^might  adopt,"  to 
arrest  and  punish  certain  "offenders"  therein  specified,  whether  their 
offences  should  be  committed  within  the  limits  over  which  martial  law 
might  be  in  force,  or  not;  among  which  'offenders"  were  enumerated 
the  following,  that  is  to  say: 

All  persons  who  should  refuse  to  receive  Confederate  notes  as  cur- 
rency, at  par,  in  business  transactions. 

All  persons  who  should  ask  or  receive,  for  any  produce,  wares  or 
merchandise,  drug  or  commodity,  any  higher  price  than  such  as 
should  be  fixed  by  the  Chief  Provost  Marshal,  who  was  thereby  em- 
powered to  regulate  prices  from  time  to  time,  at  his  discretion  ;  which 
power  the  Chief  Provost  Marshal  at  once  proceeded,  with  the  appro- 
val of  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C  Hindman,  to  exercise,  and 
by  his  General  Order,  No.  1,  dated  the  eleventh  day  of  June,  afore- 
said, and  promulgated  at  Little  Rock,  to  establish  "a  tariff  of  prices" 
for  the  sale  of  all  goods,  wares,  merchandise,  &c,  specified  therein  ; 
to  require  all  merchants  within  the  district  of  Arkansas  to  keep  open 
their  stores  from  half  after  six  o'clock,  A.  M.,  to  half  after  seven 
o'clock,  P.  M.,  of  each  day,  Sundays  excepted,  and  to  receive  in  pay- 
ment for  their  wares,  Confederate  paper,  if  tendered.     And  he  an- 


nounccd  that  all  violations  of  this  order  would  u  be  met  with  punish- 
ment commensurate  with  the  ofFenc  •." 

All  persons  who  should  violate  the  orders  from  the  headquarters 
aforesaid,  in  regard  to  cotton,  were,  by  the  same  General  Orders,  to 
be  arrested  and  punished  by  each  Provost  Marshal  within  his  jurisdic- 
tion;  all  gamblers,  and  other  ragrants,  and  all  persons  guilty  of  any 
disorder  y  or  immoral  conduct. 

And  that,  by  his  General  Orders,  No.  18,  issued  and  promulgated 
from  his  headquarters  at  Little  Rock,  aforesaid,  on  the  30th  day  of 
June,  lsiii,  he,  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  ap- 
pointed a  Provost  Marshal  General  for  the  whole  of  the  said  district, 
and  three  Provost  Marshals  of  divisions  of  the  State  of  Arkansas, 
who  should  appoint  a  Provost  Marshal  in  each  county;  and  these 
should  have  command  of  the  Independent  Military  Companies  of  such 
counties;  and  it  was  ordered  that  they  should  arrest  all  st-wigtrs  an  1 
suspected  person*,  ami  hold  them  in  custody,  until  a  satisfactory  account 
should  be  ohtained  as  to  their  loyalty  ;  by  which  means  they  became  in- 
vested with  an  arbitrary  and  odious  power,  that  might  be  used  for  the 
most  infamous  purposes,  and  which  placed  the  liberty  of  every  citizen 
at  their  mercy. 

And  that,  on  the  7th  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1862,  the  said  Major  Gen- 
eral Thomas  C.  Hindman  approved  ami  put  in  force  certain  "  Regu- 
lations"' established  by  the  said  Provost  Marshal  General  for  the  whole 
of  said  district;  by  which  provisions  were  made  for  the  trial,  by  the 
Provost  Marshals,  and  the  final  trial,  by  the  Provost  Marshal  General, 
of  all  persons  suspected  of  or  charged  with  an  oiTence  against  the  gov- 
ernment;  among  which  offences  were  enumerated  "  the  depreciation' 
of  Confederate  money,  evasion  of  or  resistance  to  the  conscript  act, 
and  any  nth  r  evidence  of  disloyalty;  the  "  spreading  discontent  or  dis- 
affection" being  specially  designated;  by  which  enactments  the"  reign 
of  terror"  was  revived;  to  be  "suspected"  or  the  object  of  private 
hatied.  was  made  a  crime ;  and  free  thought  and  free  speech  were  pro- 
scribed. 

And  by  the  same  approved  regulations,  the  functions  of  the  civil 
courts  were  transferred  to  the  local  Provost  Marshals,  and  tiny  were 
authorized  to  arrest  all  persons  guilty  of  "  offences  again  t  the  com- 
munity," to  hear  the  facts,  and  administer  justice,  avoid  ng  mire  tech- 
nicalivies,  and  to  inflict  punishment  "sufficient  to  secure  order  and 
quiet  in  the  community."  Among  which  "offences  against  the  com- 
munity "  were  enumer  ted  "  theft,  disturbance  of  the  peact,  extortion  or 
viola ti<  n  of  private,  rights;"  by  which  provision  the  wh<de  jurisdiction 
of  the  criminal  courts  was  divested  from  them,  and  vested  in  the  persons 
selected  as  Provost  Marshals  ;  an  outrage  which  created  a  hideous 
despotism  on  the  ruins  of  a  free  State 

Third.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  while  in 
command  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  as  part  of  the  Trans-Mississippi 
district,  from  the  first  day  of  June  or  thereabouts,  to  the  twelfth  day 
of  August,  or  thereabouts,  by  hid  special  and  general  orders,  issued 
and  promulgated  in  that  behalf,  conferred  upon  the  Provost  Marshals 
created  by  him  throughout  the  State,  the  power  to  arrest,  try  and  punish 


persons  committing  offences  against  the  criminal  laws  of  the  State  of 
Arkansas,  thereby  divesting  the  courts  of  justice  of  their  functions, 
destroying  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  making  the  petty  Provost 
Marshals  of  counties  to  be  both  the  judges  and  executioners  of  free 
citizens. 

Fourth.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  while 
in  command  as  aforesaid,  empowered  the  Provost  Marshal  of  the 
county  of  Pulaski,  the  Chief  Provost  Marshal  and  the  Provost  Mar- 
shal General,  to  define  and  create  offences  against  order,  morality  and 
general  orders,  to  fix  and  prescribe  the  punishment,  ''commensurate 
with  the  offence  ;  "  to  try  the  party  accused,  and  carry  the  sentence  into 
execution ;  whereby  the  last  vestige  of  liberty  and  free  government 
disappeared,  and  the  Constitutions  of  the  Confederate  Mate!  and  of 
the  State  of  Arkansas  became  impotent  to  protect  the  citizen. 

Fiftn.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  while  so 
in  command  of  the  said  district  and  on  the  seventh  day  of  July,  A. 
D.,  1862,  and  afterwards,  required  his  Provost  Marshals  to  arrest  all 
strangers  and  suspected  persons;  by  which  the  liberties  and  even  the 
lives  of  men  were  put  in  jeopardy,  and  the  worst  outrages  of  the  worst 
times  were  encouraged. 

CHARGE    SECOND. 

Invasion  of  the  rights  of  private  property  and  unnecessary,  wanton 
and  inexcusable  outrages  on  private  rights,  under  color  and  by  abuse 
of  military  authority. 

SPECIFICATIONS    OF    THE    8FCOND    CHARGE. 

First.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  while  in 
command  as  afore.-aid,  by  his  general  orders,  dated  the  third  day  of 
June,  A.  D.,  I8G2,  issued  and  promulgated  from  his  headquarters,  at 
Little  Rock,  aforesaid,  declared  that  all  cotton  within  the  said  district, 
except  only  in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  was  "seized,"  for  and  on  account 
of  the  Confederate  States,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  a  private 
person  therein  named,  by  which  order  he  attempted  to  d^est,  at  once, 
the  title  to  private  property  of  immense  value,  without  authority  of 
law  or  a;;y  sufficient  order  from  any  superior  officer,  and  in  opon  defi- 
ance of  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States. 

Second.  That  by  an  order  issued  ou  the  fifth  day  of  June  aforesaid,  to 
"the  enrolling  officers"  of  the  several  counties  in  the  State  of  Ar- 
kansas, the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman  ordered  that  all 
the  cotton  within  each  county  should  b  •  removed  by  them  to  places  at 
least. twenty  miles  from  any  navigable  stream;  to  effect  which,  these 
persons  were  authorized  Jo  demann  the  aid  not  onlj  of  the  sheriffs  and 
oth^r  county  officers,  of  conscripts  and  volunteers,  but  of  ci  izen3. 

Third.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman;  by  the 
order  last  aforesaid,  on  the  fifth  day  of  June  aforesaid,  authorized 
and  ordered  the  said  "  enrolling  officers  "  to  issue  to  every  planter, 
out  of  his  own  cotton,  for  clothing  for  his  family  and  hands,  "ten 
pounds  to  each  white  person  and  slave,"  and  also  to  give  away  tho 
same  quantity  of  the  same  cotton  to  each   "  necessitous  person  "   of 


10 

the  county,  which  order  was,  in  many  counties,  carried  into  effect, 
and  much  cotton  was  thus  given  away. 

Fourth.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Ilindinan,  by  the 
order  last  aforesaid,  on. the  fifth  day  of  June,  aforesaid,  ordered  that 
if  any  person  should  secrete  his  own  cotton,  and  refuse  to  point  it  out, 
he  should  be  arrested  and  sent  to  headquarters  for  trial  as  guilt-j  of 
high  treason,  and  that  the  cotton  so  secreted,  if  found,  should  be  con- 
fiscated ;  and  it  was  also  thereby  ordered  by  him.  that  all  persons  who 
should  resist  the  execution  of  that  order,  or  should  fail  to  give  aid  when 
called  upon,  should  be  arrested  as  guilty  of  high  treason  :  in  all  whereof 
the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States  was  set  at  nought,  and 
attempted  to  be  annulled,  and  treason  against  these  States  was  made  to 
consist  in  other  things  than  levying  war  against  them,  or  adhering  to 
their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort ;  and  it  became  high  treason 
for  a  citizen  to  endeavor  to  save  his  property  from  wanton  destruction, 
or  from  distribution  among  the  l<  necessitous  of  the  county." 

Fifth.  That  on  or  about  the  twenty-first  day  of  July,  IK62,  at  Lit- 
tle Rock  aforesaid,  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman  an- 
nulled a  sale  of  certain  goods  captuied  from  the  enemy,  and  which 
had  been  sold  in  the  city  of  Little  Rock,  at  public  auction,  "  in  con- 
formity with  the  law  and  army  regulations,"  and  in  obedience  to  his 
own  orders  ;  and  ordered  the  same  goods,  which  had  by  such  sale  be- 
come private  property,  to  be  re-sold  at  invoice  prices  to  the  wives  and 
families  of  soldiers  ;  all  which  was  done  for  the  reason  that  at  the  said 
sale  at  auction,  wealthy  persons  offered  and  bid  extravagant  prices,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  poor  from  all  benefit  in  the  sale. 

CHARGE  THIRD. 

Unwarrantable  usurpation  of  military  power  and  authority,  to-wit: 
the  power  of  appointment  and  promotion  of  officers,  which  belongs 
only  to  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 

SPECIFIC ATION   of  the  third  charge. 

That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman,  while  so  as 
aforesaid  in  command  of  the  said  district,  and  at  different  times  from 
the  first  day  of  June,  A.  D.,  1862,  to  the  first  day  of  August,  A.  D., 
1SG2,  has  usurped  and  exercised  the  power  of  appointing  one  R.  W. 
Kichardson,  one  Thomas  Elliot,  one  Decius  McCrery  and  one  John  S. 
Horner,  all  of  whom  were  persons  in  private  life,  to  bo  majors  of  in- 
fantry,  has  apppointed  other  persons  from  private  life  to  be  captains, 
majors  and  colonels  in  the  provisional  army  of  the  Confederate  States, 
and  has  filled  with  them  offices  created  by  himself  and  unknown  to  the 
law,  without  any  authority  whatever  for  so  doing;  that  he  has  also 
promoted  officers  to  higher  office  and  rank,  without  authority  of  law, 
given  members  of  his  staff  ranks  to  which  they  were  not  entitled,  and 
published  his  list  of  appointments  and  promotions  in  the  same  style 
as  if  he  were  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 

charge  fourth. 

Outrages  upon  the  right  to  personal  liberty  of  free  citizens  guilty 
r>f  no  proven  offence,  and  thereby  the  inauguration  of  a  now  reign  of 
terror. 


11 

SPFCIFICATIONS    OF  THE  FOURTH  CHARGE. 

First.  That  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman.  on  the 
6th  day  of  August,  A  D.,  1862,  by  his  General  Orders  No.  42,  of 
that  date,  issued  and  promulgated  from  his  headquarters  at  Little 
Rock  aforesaid,  did  order  that  whenever  any  person  in  the  district 
should  be  suspected  of  disloyalty,  and  there  should  appear  to  be  reason- 
able ground  for  brlieving  the  suspicion  well  founded,  the  officer  of  tho 
Provost  Marshal's  department,  having  jurisdiction  of  the  locality, 
should  cause  the  arrest  of  the  person  so  suspected,  and  require  him  to 
swear  allegiance  to  the  Confederate  States,  and  that  he  would  not  go 
be"\ond  the  limits  of  the  county  in  which  he  might  reside,  without  a 
passport  from  the  Provost  Marshal  thereof,  during  the  continuance  of 
the  present  war,  under  the  penalty  of  death  ;  thus  imitating  the  most 
infamous  precedents  of  a  bloody  period,  encouraging  the  trade  of  spy, 
and  delator,  and  catering  to  private  revenge. 

Pecond  :'  That  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  June,  A.  D  ,  1862,  or  there- 
abouts, at  the  city  of  Little  Rock,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas,  under 
and  by  virtue  of  authority  conferred  by  the  said  Major  General 
Thomas  C.  Hindman,  and  by  virtue  and  force  of  his  General  Orders, 
No.  13.  of  date  the  tenth  day  of  June,  A.  D.,  1862,  and  that  day  is- 
sued and  promulgated  fiora  his  Headquarters  at  Little  Rock,  one  Ben- 
jamin F.  Danley,  being  by  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C  Ilind- 
man's  appointment,  Provost  Marshal  of  the  county  of  Pulaski,  in  the 
said  State,  did,  with  the  sanction  and  approval  of  the  said  Major  Gen- 
eral Thomas  C.  Hindman,  arrest,  and  restrain  of  his  liberty,  and  en-* 
treat  as  a  felon,  one  Joseph  Fenno,  a  free  white  man  and  old  citizen 
of  the  said  city,  county  and  State,  of  good  repute,  for  the  cause  and 
for  no  other,  that  he  refused  to  receive,  from  one  J.  C.  Trumpler,  a 
certain  sum  and  amount,  in  Treasury  notesof  the  Confederate  states, 
at  par  and  dollar  for  dollar,  in  payment  for  an  old  debt  due  him  by  the 
said  Trumpler  :  which  arrest  and  restraint  then  there  continued  for 
the  space  of  three  hours,  or  thereabouts,  and  until  the  said  Joseph 
Fenno,  under  such  duress,  consented  to  receive  the  said  sum  in  such 
Treasury  notes,  in  payment  of  the  said  debt,  whenever  it  should  be 
tendered  to  him. 

CHARGE    FIFTH. 

Unjust,  illegal,  unconstitutional  and  wanton  interference  with  the 
business  affairs  and  contracts  of  private  citizens,  under  color  and  by 
gross  abuse  of  his  military  authority. 

SPECIFICATION    OF     THE    FIFTH    CHARGE. 

That  on  the  ninth  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1869,  the  said  Major  Gen- 
eral Thomas  C.  Hindman,  by  his  General  Orders,  No  9.  that  day  is- 
sued and  promulgated  from  his  Headquarters  at  Little  Rock,  afore- 
said, declared  that  Confederate  money  (meaning  thereby  the  Treasury 
notes  of  the  Confederate  States.)  was  considered  as  of  equal  value  with 
any  other,  and  should  therefore  be  taken  in  all  business  transactions, 
and  in  payment  of  all  debts,  of  whatever  kind  and  character  ;  and  in  or- 
der to  make  effectual  this  tyrannical  attempt  to  raise  a  depreciated 


12 


paper  to  lip  the  equivalent  of  gold  and  silver  coin.  an<l  to  constitute  it 
a  legal  tender,  ami  to  enable  dishonest  debtors  to  pay  their  just  debts 
With  one  t)  in!  their  amount  and  value,  lie  the  Raid  Major  General 
Tb'>if;:-  Q.  Hindman  al-o  thereby  declared  that  all  pet  sons  who  should 
refuse  10  receive  the  Treasury  notes  of  the  Confederate  State  a  in  pay- 
ment, at  par.  of  old  debts  as  well  as  new,  would  subject  themselves  to 
the  penalties  theretofore  prescribed  in  his  Orders;  that  is  to  say,  to 
trial  by  the  person  called  Provost  Marshal  General,  or  hy  some  of 
those  under  him  ;  and  to  the  infliction  of  such  punishment  as  any  such 
person  might  deem  "  commensurate  with  the  offence." 


CHAKGE    SIXTH. 

The  putting  to  death,  unconstitutionally  and  illegally,  without  due 
process  of  law,  or  legal  trial,  under  color  and  by  abuse  of  his  military 
authority,  of  a  person  charged  with  an  offence  against  the  criminal 
laws  of  the  State  of  Arkansas. 

SPECIFICATION  OF  THE  SIXTH  CHARGE. 

That  hy  virtue  of  the  authority  and  power  attempted  to  be  confer- 
red by  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C.  Hindman  on  one  Benjamin 
F.  Danley,  as  Provost  Marshal  General  of  the  Trans- Mississippi  dis- 
trict, by  his  General  Orders,  No.  13, of  date  the  thirtieth  day  of  June, 
A.  D.  1862,  and  on  that  day  issued  and  promulgated  from  his  Head- 
quarters at  Little  Rock  aforesaid  ;  and  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  cer- 
tain regulations,  established  hy  th  ;  said  Provost  Marshal  General,  in 
pursuance  of  the  said  General  Orders,  No.  13,  for  the  trial,  by  tho 
said  Provost  Marshal  General,  and  the  Provost  Marshals  under  h.m, 
•of  all  persons  within  the  said  T  ans-Mississippi  district,  suspected  of 
or  charged  with  an  offense  against  the  government,  and  of  all  persons 
guilty  of  '*  offences  against  the  community;"  which  regulations  were 
approved  and  thereby  put  in  force  by  the  said  Major  General  Thomas 
<,  .  Hindman,  on  the  seventh  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1862,  and  the  said 
1  rovost  Marshal  General,  and  the  several  Provost  Marshals  under  him, 
v.ere  thereby  empowered  to  arrest  all  persons,  guilty  or  suspected  to 
le  guilty  of  such  offences,  "  to  hear  the  facts  and  administer  justice, 
chnicalities,"  and  to  inflict  punishment,  "  sufficient  to 


i -voiding  mere  technicalities,"  and  to  inflict  p 

fecure  order  and  quiet  in  the  community  ;"  one  Jerry,  a  negro  man. 
Have  for  life,  charged  with  an  assault  with  intent  to  commit  a  rape 
at  the  county  of  Pulaski,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas,  contrary  to  th 
Etafutesof  the  State  of  Arkansas,  in  that  case  made  and  provided,  an 
aganst  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  alone,  and 
ict  contrary  to  the  statutes  or  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
(  oi  federate  States,  was,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1862,  or 
tl  e  eabouts,  at  the  said  county,  arrested  by  the  said  Provo.-t  Marshal 
Ceieral,  and  by  him  tried  for  such  offenco,  convicted  thereof,  an  1 
s  n  enced  to  be  hung  by  the  neck  until  he  was  dead;  which  se^teaie 
b>  ii  g  thereupon  submitted  to  the  said  Major  General  Thomas  C  Hin  l- 
n  an  he  did,  on  the  thirty-first  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1862,  or  there- 
tbou  s,  at  Little  Rock  afoiesaid,  approve  and  ratify  the  same,  and  or- 
cer  it  to  be  carried  into  execution  ;  and  accordingly,  by  virtue  and 


I 


13 

authority  of  his  said  General  Orders,  regulations,  approval  and  order, 
the  said  negro  man  Jerry,  slave  for  life,  was,  on  the  first  day  of  Au- 
gust. A  D.,  1862,  at  the  county  of  Pulaski  aforesaid,  by  the'said  Pro- 
vost Marshal  General,  hanged  by  th."  neck  until  he  was  dead. 

CH  »RGE    SEVENTH. 

The  putting  to  death,  without  sentence  of  a  court  martial,  or  other 
due  process  or  legal  trial,  uiider  color  and  by  abuse  of  his  military 
authority,  of  persons  charged  with  desertion  and  other  offences  against 
the  articles  of  war. 

SPF.C!HCAT[ONS    OF    THE     SEVENTH  CHARGE. 

First:  That  on  the  first  day  of  August,  A.  D.,  1862,  or  thereabout*, 
at  the  county  of  Pulaski,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas,  the  sail  Major 
General  Thomas  C  Hindman  did  cause  and  order  to  be  shot  to  death 
an<1  killed  four  several  white  men,  citzens  of  the  State  of  Arkansas, 
sol  Hers  in  ihe  service  and  Provisional  Army  of  the  Confederate  States, 
two  of  whom  were  named  West  and  one  Donoho,  charged  with  deser- 
tion :  and  the  said  four  men  were  thereupon  then  and  there,  by  his 
older,  and  without  trial  or  sentence  by  court  martial  or  other  compe- 
tent tribunal,  shot  to  death  and  killed,  without  warrant  by  the  law  of 
the   land 

Second:  That  on  the  eleventh  day  of  August,  A.  D,  1862,  or 
thereabouts,  in  the  county  of  Pulaski,  in  the  State  of  Arkansas,  the 
said  Major  General  Thomas  C  Hindman  did  cause  and  order  to  be  shot 
to  deat'i  and  killed,  five  several  white  men,  citizens  .of  the  State  of 
Arkansas,  and  ot  whom  four  were  soldiers  in  the  service  of  the  ('on- 
federate  States,  and  in  the  Provisional  army  of  the  same  ;  and  the  said 
five  men  were  thereupon,  by  his  order,  and  without  trial  or  sentence 
by  court  martial  or  other  competent  tribunal,  then  and  there,  without 
any  warrflht  of  law,  shot  to  death  and  killed. 

Preferred  by  Albert  Pike,  Brigadier  General  of  the  Provisional 
Army  C    S.  A.,  the  23d  day  of  August,  1862. 

ALBERT  PIKE, 
Brigadier  General,    fyc. 


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